


The Ice Cream Date

by seibelsays



Series: Fluffy Fridays [6]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Father-Daughter Relationship, Fluff, Gen, Ice Cream, Marvel Fluff Bingo 2019, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 08:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18847429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seibelsays/pseuds/seibelsays
Summary: Bucky is running late for a very important date.





	The Ice Cream Date

**Author's Note:**

> Some cotton candy I spun for the Marvel Fluff Bingo square "ice cream date." Please consider making an appointment with your dentist after reading.

“CLOSE IT CLOSE IT CLOSE IT!” Bucky yelled as he crossed the threshold of the Quinjet’s ramp, Steve hot on his heels. They were blown forward into the belly of the jet as the explosions went off in the building behind them. Bucky peeled his face off the floor and peered over his shoulder, checking to make sure Steve made it, ignoring for the moment how his gun jammed mercilessly into his ribs. He breathed a quick, silent sigh of relief when he saw Steve in a similar position just behind him, waving away help from Natasha as the ramp swung closed behind them.

“That could have gone better,” Steve groaned, his voice muffled by the floor.

Bucky had little sympathy. “Next time, don’t ignore my warning about the air support, asshole.”

Natasha rolled her eyes at the both of them. “Did you get it?”

Bucky pushed himself up and rolled over onto his back, then reached into his pocket and pulled out the drive. “Got it.”

Natasha grinned like a shark. “Perfect.” She snatched the drive from Bucky’s fingers and strode away. “Back in New York in 3 hours, boys.” 

“Yay,” Bucky replied, without much enthusiasm and without moving an inch from where he lay. Steve wasn’t moving at all. Bucky could hear him breathing, so he wasn’t all that concerned.

“Oh and Barnes?” Natasha called over her shoulder. “It’s Friday.”

“FUCK!”

***

Bucky fumbled with his tie again and cursed the strands of hair that continued to fall into his face. He still felt a bit grimy - the Quinjet didn’t have a regular shower, just a sonic monstrosity that Tony insisted cleaned better than water. He’d still needed half the alcohol wipes from the first aid kit he’d raided just to get the soot off his face and hands. 

Back in the Tower, he only had minutes before he had to leave before he would be inexcusably late, so he’d skipped an actual shower and jumped straight into his best (only) suit and quickly pulled his long hair back into a bun. It might smell a little like smoke, but at least it didn’t look too greasy.

Now, if only he could get this damn tie to cooperate.

“Buck, you ready?” Steve called.

“Shit,” he muttered. “Yeah!” 

Forget the tie. He could forget the tie, right? It was a nice place. He probably couldn’t forget the tie. He’d fix it in the car.

He hustled into the living room. “Let’s go.”

Steve gave him an appraising look. “You look like hell.”

“Fuck off.”

“The clothes are fine, the hair is fine, but Buck - you gotta calm down, okay? It’s gonna be alright, you’ll get there with plenty of time.”

Bucky sighed and felt like he was going to crawl out of his skin as they entered the elevator. “Yeah yeah. So you keep saying. It’s just...this is important, you know?”

“Is it?” Steve asked, his brows knitting in confusion.

It was. Pepper had alluded to it. Jane outright told him. Darcy danced around the subject, shrugging it off like it was no big deal, in a way that said it was a _very big deal_. Hell, Nick Fury had dropped by to tell him in no uncertain terms that anything he’d experienced under Hydra would be a goddamn picnic if he screwed this up.

And even if no one had said a word to him about it, it was important to him because it was important to Izzy.

“Yes. Yes, it’s important.”

***

Bob might have given Steve a heart attack when he enthusiastically agreed to use the lights and sirens to get through midtown traffic at Bucky’s request. As they screamed through the streets, jumping curbs and illegally using the bike lanes, all Bucky cared about was that he was almost there, he was only 10 minutes late, and that wasn’t completely unforgivable.

“I dropped her off earlier, you know. She was really excited,” Bob said.

Bucky’s heartrate skyrocketed as he nodded in acknowledgement. He burst out of the car before it rolled to a complete stop with barely a glance goodbye and ran into the stupidly upscale ice cream parlor where his Izzy was waiting for him.

Just inside, the host’s eyes widened at his sudden appearance. Bucky took a second to compose himself, tucking the hair that escaped his bun back behind his ears and smoothing down his tie. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the window and winced. The damn tie was crooked again. He tugged at it nervously as he approached the host. 

“Hi,” he greeted, giving him his best smile. “I’m here for -”

“DADDY!” a little voice shrieked.

Bucky turned towards the voice. “Izzy!” He crouched down, just in time to catch an enthusiastic bundle of blue taffeta that contained his six-year-old daughter.

He straightened back up, lifting her off her feet as he cradled her in his arms. He turned back to the host, who was smiling at them.

“Young Astronomer Society Father Daughter Ice Cream Social?”

Bucky nodded as he peppered Izzy’s hair with kisses and the host motioned for them to follow him so they could join the party. 

Izzy buried her face in his shoulder. “Daddy, you made it.”

His heart clenched as he adjusted his grip on her. Soon, she’d be too big for him to carry like this - she wouldn’t even want him to try. He was determined to savor these moments while he still had them. “Of course I did, baby girl. I promised you, didn’t I?”

“You always keep your promises,” Izzy said into his shoulder. “I missed you, Daddy.”

He kissed her cheek with a loud smacking noise that made her giggle. “Missed you more. What do you say we get some ice cream, huh?”

***

“May I have chocolate ice cream with hot caramel fudge, please?” Izzy asked the server.

Bucky grinned at her. “Good choice,” he encouraged, then looked to the server. “I’ll have mint chocolate chip with chocolate sauce, please.”

The server smiled at them both then hurried away to get the orders from the other tables at the party. 

“So, baby girl, what did you do while I was away? Were you good for Aunt Pepper and Uncle Tony?”

Izzy gave him a flat look that she _in no way_ had gotten from him, before launching into story after story about all the things Tony had helped her build in the lab for show and tell at school. Bucky tried not to think about how many of those things they built might blow up or suddenly develop sentience and instead marveled a little at how fast she learned, just how quickly and easily she mastered things. He had been no slouch in school (there was an exhibit in the Smithsonian that said so - take that, Sam), but Izzy was smart beyond his wildest dreams. 

Much to Bucky’s disappointment, their ice cream arrived all too quickly and interrupted Izzy’s stories. Izzy was unfazed and dove in with the same enthusiasm with which she attacked everything in life. She dripped a little caramel on her dress and had chocolate all over her face and Bucky fell head over heels for his daughter all over again. As he helped her clean up her hands, Izzy’s eyes turned a little panicked.

“What about the dress?” she asked.

Bucky gave her a reassuring grin. “We can take care of it when we get home.”

“It won’t stick?”

“It might,” Bucky admitted. “But I know all sorts of ways to fix that.”

“That’s cause you know everything, Daddy. Will you show me?”

Bucky melted faster than the remains of his ice cream. “Of course, baby girl.”

Izzy’s big blue eyes were wide and trusting as she beamed at him, seemingly overjoyed to learn the secrets of stain removal.

He had a weird kid and he adored her. 

***

Bucky was grateful that Bob had stuck around to drive them home, as he needed the ride back to the Tower to surreptitiously look up how to get caramel out of taffeta. His stain removal skills were limited to blood and gunpowder, neither of which were either helpful or something he wanted to show a six-year-old. He’d been petrified when Izzy had been born, scared that he wouldn’t be able to keep his life as a part-time Avenger away from her. It had been going well so far - no need to bring _that_ particular skill set to the table today.

Bucky’s search yielded a surprising result - removing caramel stains was very similar to removing blood stains. Who knew?

When they finally reached their floor of the Tower, Bucky shooed Izzy off to her room.

“Get in your pajamas and then I’ll show you how to get that stain out, okay?”

“Pajamas?” Izzy asked, incredulous. “It’s not bedtime!”

“It isn’t?” Bucky asked, his eyes wide and innocent. “But I was going to get in my pajamas. I want to be comfy when I put _Moana_ on tv.”

Izzy froze in place, then slowly, dramatically, turned back to face him. “ _Moana_?” 

“Yep,” Bucky nodded solemnly. “It’s going to be playing during a PJ party on the couch. Do you want to be my date?”

Izzy nodded excitedly and skipped off to her room. Bucky laughed a little to himself then checked the time and felt his heart sink a little. 

It was probably too late in Norway to call. He kind of wanted to anyway.

Feeling silly, he dug his phone out of his pocket and opened the videochat, tapping on his most recent chat. It rang a few times before disconnecting. He sighed.

Definitely too late.

Izzy came bounding out of her room, freshly clad in her pajamas and holding her dress in her hands. He quickly shoved his phone back in his pocket and gave Izzy his best smile.

“Stain first. Then movie!”

***

Bucky gently lifted Izzy’s sleeping form off the couch and silently carried her to her room. He tucked her in and brushed her hair away from her face, before leaning down and kissing her forehead.

“Sweet dreams, baby girl. I love you.”

He double-checked the nightlight and mostly closed the door.

He wandered back to the kitchen, cleaning up the remains of their popcorn and putting the rest of Izzy’s juice in the refrigerator. He picked up the blankets from the couch, folding them and tucking them back into the box next to the couch before turning off the television. He’d just turned out the lights when the front door creaked open.

“Bucky?” Darcy said quietly.

“Darce?” he asked in confusion, hurrying to the door. “What are you doing here? I thought you were still in Norway for another week!”

She threw her arms around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss. “Well, when I heard that my gorgeous husband made it back in time for the father-daughter ice cream social, I changed my flight. I got jealous and wanted my own ice cream date.”

“You’re perfect, you know that?” he murmured, leaning in for another kiss. 

“Oh well, I try,” Darcy grinned.

He led her to the kitchen, leaving her bags in the entry for now. He’d clean it up later.

“I tried calling,” he said quietly, as he put the kettle on for tea.

“I saw, I’m sorry. I was in the air, and then I didn’t want to ruin the surprise.”

“Best surprise.” He pulled a pint of caramel fudge ice cream out of the freezer. 

“I missed you,” Darcy said, making grabby hands at the ice cream.

He handed it to her. “You missed _me_ or the ice cream?”

Darcy gave him an innocent look that she _absolutely did not_ teach their daughter. “Why not both?”

Bucky withheld the spoon he had been about to give her. “Which did you miss _more_?”

Darcy simply grinned at him. 

“Seven years of marriage and I’m losing out to ice cream,” Bucky muttered as Darcy plucked the spoon out of his hand.

“Guess you’ll have to up your game,” Darcy teased, digging in to the carton. “How was the mission?”

Bucky shrugged. “Fine. Steve’s an idiot.”

Darcy snorted. “What else is new?” she asked around a mouthful of ice cream.

“How was Norway?”

“Same old. Jane claims she made some new discovery. As though she doesn’t do that every week. She was very excited about it though. Said it’s going to change the universe.”

“Again?” Bucky asked. “Maybe I like the universe as it is, why does it need changing?”

“This is why we get along. That’s exactly what I told her.”

“What did she say?”

“Sciency stuff.” She held out of spoonful of ice cream to him. “Want some? It’s not a proper ice cream date if only one of us is indulging.”

Bucky scrunched up his nose. “You and Izzy have the same weird taste in ice cream.”

“Same _good_ taste you mean.”

“Mint chocolate chip, all the way.”

“Ugh. No. You’re wrong.” She practically shoved the spoon into his mouth. “This is better.”

Bucky pulled the spoon from his mouth and dug another bite out of the pint before holding it to Darcy’s lips. “Your turn.” He waited for the telltale flutter of her eyelashes to know when the caramel hit her tongue and then he quickly leaned in and stole a soft, sweet kiss.

“That’s my favorite, right there,” he murmured.

Darcy grinned at him. “Sap.” She leaned in and kissed him again.

“I was gone for a week and came home to ice cream dates with my two best girls. I’ll be all the sap I want.”

“I wasn’t complaining. Welcome home, Bucky.”

“You too, Darce. Welcome home.”


End file.
